A man who left a closed container holding nine six-week-old puppies at the Vicksburg Warren Humane Society has been identified and his arrest is imminent.

He left the pups on the night of Feb. 2, under the view of security cameras with no apparent concern for their health.

“He actually parked in front of our ‘no trespassing after hours’ sign,” said Georgia Lynn, VWHS director. “Before he left, this man made sure the lid was fastened tight. The blue container did not have any air holes.”

This was someone who wasn’t looking to provide these pups with a good home; he was trying to get rid of an unwanted burden, and one has to wonder what happened, or where, is the mother of those puppies. Was she also abandoned and left to fend for herself? Or is she still with her owner.

Pet owners should be aware of the state’s animal cruelty laws and realize that when they abandon a pet, whether it’s in the side of the road, or the woods, or the front door of the Humane Society in the middle of the night, they are endangering the animal and putting themselves in a position to face a fine or jail time or both.

The man who dropped off those puppies is now going to find himself in court facing punishment for acting cruel and stupid. The irony is, if he didn’t want the pups, he could have taken them during the day to the Humane Society and left them with the staff, which would have gotten a history on the pups, had them examined, been able to treat them for medical problems and eventually found them good homes with loving individuals and families. He could have even brought the mother.

There could be many reasons why this man wanted to give up those pups, and there are agencies like the Humane Society, animal rescues, the city animal shelter, where people could have taken the pups and later adopted them. Abandoning an animal to fend for itself is never a good idea.

We hope the puppies he dropped off can eventually be placed with people who will enjoy their company, and we hope our legislators will take a long look at the state’s animal cruelty laws to discourage abandoning animals.